Pellinor Drabbles
by Jennistar1
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin...100-word drabbles, on-the-spot stuff, bits and pieces...all Pellinor-esk!
1. Waterfalls

NB: I don't own them! Not even the waterfall!

The waterfall of Til Amon was considered the biggest and most beautiful in all of Edil-Amarandh, so, as soon as they arrived there, Cadvan took Maerad to see it

The waterfall of Til Amon was considered the biggest and most beautiful in all of Edil-Amarandh, so, as soon as they arrived there, Cadvan took Maerad to see it.

They stood on the wooden platform beneath and watched the pea-green water cascade down above them before vanishing into fine, white droplets in the air, the light reflected by the water shivering on the cavern walls constantly and the entire cavern booming with the waterfall's thunderous roar.

Maerad grasped Cadvan's hand.

"It's beautiful!" she cried above the din.

"Yes," said Cadvan. "Beautiful."

But he was no longer looking at the waterfall.

Review my dears :)


	2. Random stuff!

Maerad dashes into the room that Cadvan is reading in

NB: Random stuff, based on a couple of poems Mistress Maerad and I wrote on sffworld…I don't own em…

Maerad dashes into the room that Cadvan is reading in.

Maerad: Cadvan, do you know anything about this?

Waves Jennistar's and MM's poems in the air.

Cadvan: (in shock) Erm...

Maerad: Because someone's been sticking them under my pillow and I can't work out who it is...Do you know who it is, Cadvan?

Cadvan: (amazed she hasn't realised) Er...

Maerad: Ooh! I've just guessed who it is!

Cadvan: goes white

Maerad: It's Camphis!! Ooh, I KNEW he had the hots for me!

Cadvan: Wha - ?

Maerad: I'm going to go and give him a biiiiiiiiiig kiss right now!

Maerad skips out of the door

Silence. Then...

Cadvan: DAMMIT!!


	3. Desperation

NB: I don't own the gorgeous devil

NB: I don't own the gorgeous devil!

Desperation

Running through the cloisters of the Healing House, running, just running, and hoping too, praying...

"Malgorn! _Malgorn!_"

"Cadvan - "

"Maerad - is she - "

"Down the corridor."

Running onwards without a glance back, feet pounding out a rhythm on the stone floor - don't-let-her-be, don't-let-her-be...

Arriving at the open door. An angel lying in her bed, asleep, face pale and peaceful, dark hair fluttering in the breeze from her lips, Silvia there.

"Is - is she - "

"She is fine." An understanding smile. "She is fine, Cadvan. Just resting."

_Just resting..._

For a moment, he thought his heart had stopped.


	4. Choices

NB: I don't own the characters

NB: I don't own the characters. Way to go making me feel depressed!!

Some 100 word fluff. Cuz man does fluff feel goooood :)

Choices

She rushed into the room to find him already packing, clothed in armour, his face stern.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

He looked up swiftly, eyes dark.

"I couldn't."

"Why _not?_"

"Maerad, if I had told you that I was going to fight on Til Amon's front line because they needed me, what would you have said?"

"I need you more."

"Exactly. That's - that's why."

A pause.

"Were you going to leave without saying goodbye as well?"

"...No."

"Don't ever do that to me. Not again. Not like in Gwalhain Pass. Don't ever leave without saying goodbye again."

"Never again, my dear. Never again."

Read! Review! And reap the rewards in Writer's Heaven!


	5. On the spot!

NB: Random on-the-spot stuff

NB: Random on-the-spot stuff…but I STILL don't own 'em! weeps in a corner

They had separated. How could he have let them get _separated again?_ He ran through the ruins, this being the only thought ringing through his mind amid a blur of colour and panic.

_Don't let her be..._

_If she is..._

_I never said goodbye..._

_BytheLight, BytheLight, BytheLight..._

He emerged in the hall where he had last seen her. There was no one around. Suddenly he was back in Gwalhain Pass again, freshly down from the mountains, searching for a vanished Maerad, wondering if she lay buried under the rubble...  
He stared around him at the half collapsed roof, at the huge boulders on the ground. She could be crushed under one of them. That could have happened easily. She was just mortal after all. Just mortal, like he was. Even if she was the One. She could still...

She could still...

_She can still die._

He closed his eyes briefly, and heard himself say aloud,

"Maerad..."

"Cadvan?" said a voice, and then he looked up and it was _her,_ it was _her,_ running towards him, alive and laughing with sudden joy.

He ran too, and they crashed into each others arms, and the world righted itself again.

Yah. Anyways! :)


	6. Handsome

NB: Written at 4am in the morning, total on-the-spot-ness

NB: Written at 4am in the morning, total on-the-spot-ness…I don't own anyone, I just play with 'em!

**Handsome**

"Are you Maerad of Pellinor?"

Maerad paused halfway through her midday meal in Innail's main hall to look up at the interrupter, and found not one but _six_ girls all around her own age, staring down at her with saucer-wide eyes. She realised that she had been sitting with her mauled left hand resting on the table, and the girls must have seen it and identified her.

"Err, yes I am," she replied self-consciously.

"_Fantastic!_" All six girls had surrounded her in seconds, and began asking her questions so fast that she was unable to decipher even one. She sat, dumbfounded, blinking, as the girls babbled on, then finally the one who had spoken first shouted over all of them and they fell silent, watching Maerad with unnervingly unblinking eyes.

"So - you travel with Cadvan of Lirigon, then?" the leader of the group said finally.

"Um...yes." Maerad had been expecting questions about her encounters with various beasts or about her powers, but not about who she spent her time with, but apparently this was the very and only thing the girls wanted to know, for they immediately burst into hysterics again.

"We _love_ Cadvan!"

"Ooooh, imagine _travelling_ with him - "

"Wouldn't that be incredible?"

"Wouldn't be able to keep my hands off him!"

"Me neither!"

"Err," said Maerad, thinking she should say something before it all got too PG-13. Her voice reminded the girls that she existed, and they all turned back to her, misty-eyed.

"We _love_ Cadvan - we've read all his books - "

"His translations - "

"His poetry - "

_By the Light,_ Maerad thought suddenly. _I've run into Cadvan's fan-club..._

She brought her drink to her lips for something to do. The girls chirruped around her.

"He's so strong!"

"And brave!"

"And noble!"

"And _handsome!_"

Maerad spluttered into her drink and coughed violently, while the girls flapped and hit her on the back and shrieked.

"I - err - um," she stuttered once she had regained the use of her voice.

"Oh, but he _is_ handsome!" giggled one of the girls. "Don't you think so, Maerad?"

Maerad felt her cheeks go scarlet.

"Um - I haven't really - um - "

But her response was ignored; the girls were now carrying on about one of Cadvan's translations, and she had been forgotten.

"_Parry,_ Maerad!"

The sword stroke swished at Maerad's left, surprising her, and she stumbled back to avoid it, tripping over her own feet and crashing to the ground in a most unladylike fashion.

Cadvan grinned down at her, holding Arnost in the air in triumph, as the rest of the Innail fighting grounds swirled before her eyes.

"I _did_ tell you to parry," he teased.

Maerad crossed her arms under her chest and pouted from her position down in the dust.

"Humph. So much for 'noble'."

"Eh?"

"Never mind. Help me up, you big bully."

Cadvan, still grinning, extended a hand and she uncrossed her arms and allowed him to drag her to her feet.

And then, somehow, for a brief moment, they were nose to nose, and Maerad found herself staring into a pair of dark, unfathomably deep, blue eyes. She had never thought it before, but Cadvan's eyes were a very beautiful colour - sapphires set in dark sockets and framed by equally dark eyelashes. And his mouth - usually a grim line, but at the moment stretched in a small smile that seemed to illuminate him inside out - that was very –

His firm jaw and his slightly long hair, falling every which way over his high forehead...By the Light, even the scars of the whiplashes on his cheek curled elegantly...

Funny, mused Maerad, he looked a lot younger close up, and quite –

He turned away, letting go of her hand, and she jerked out of her trance.

"Now, Maerad the Clumsy, let's try that again," he instructed, and they continued practising as before, late into the afternoon.

It was only when she was returning to her room afterwards that Maerad remembered what the fan girls had said to her.

_They were right,_ she thought. _He really is quite...handsome._

End!

You like? Good! Now review, bi-atches!


	7. By The Light!

NB: This is thanks to Fallen-Petals on sffworld

NB: This is thanks to Fallen-Petals on sffworld…who was trying to convince me to write a slash scene with (firstly) Cadvan, Saliman and Nelac (and then adding into the mix) Enkir (and then) Dernhil, Sharma and Arkan (and finally) Maerad!

This was the result…It terrified me…

I don't own them. And now that I've written this, I'm not even sure I WANT to anymore!!

Maerad: (bouncing through door) Cadders I just came to give you your - By. The. Light...

limbs glisten

Cadvan: Hey Maerad! waves

Several other hands wave as well

Sharma: from somewhere under Nelac Yo, M!

Leg sticks up in the air and is pulled down by a hand

Cadvan: Wanna join in?

Maerad: Err...

Saliman: sitting on Arkan's head C'mon, it'll be fun!

Enkir: you don't even wanna KNOW where his head is Go on, we've only just got started!

Dernhil: Yeah, we're not even halfway through yet...

All as one: Pleeeeeeeeease...

Maerad: Oh but I should...I really should... Watches the fornication for a while longer Aw, what the heck! Joins the writhing mass of body parts

Flame me please!!


	8. Aftermath

NB: I (meaning me, the author, Jennistar1) don't own (meaning in any copyright terms) them (meaning Maerad, Cadvan and any other Pellinor-related themes inside the fic)

**NB: I (meaning me, the author, Jennistar1) don't own (meaning in any copyright terms) them (meaning Maerad, Cadvan and any other Pellinor-related themes inside the fic). There, I think that should keep me out of trouble! I have no idea where this came from, I just picked up a pen and out it flowed!**

**AFTERMATH**

Maerad and Cadvan fell exhausted onto the bed, both flushed from their latest 'exhertions'.

"Maerad," Cadvan moaned to the ceiling. "Don't ever do that bit again."

"Which bit?" She lay amongst the mass of her ebony hair, eyes closed, mouth stretched in small smile.

"You know, the bit when you – " He groaned. "_Pulled._"

She giggled in understanding.

"You old man."

He twisted his head so that he could look on her face in its halo of black.

"Does it worry you?"

"What?"

"My age. Our age gap. Does it worry you that you sleep with an – 'old man'?"

She opened one eyes and peeked at him through the strands of her dishevelled hair.

"Does I worry _you_ that you sleep with a young girl?"

He grinned at her wolfishly.

"Of course not."

"Then…" She flipped over so that she was lying on his chest, her grave blue eyes looking into his, her curtain of hair shielding the room from them. "If it doesn't worry an 'old man' that he sleeps with a 'young girl', why should it worry a 'young girl' that she sleeps with an 'old man'?"

He smiled up at her, fingers trailing through her smooth locks.

"I'm not that old," he whispered seductively.

"And I'm not that young," she countered just as huskily, and bent down and kissed him softly and strongly on the mouth. For a while they lay there, mouths locked, hands intertwined, bodies pressed together.

When they resurface, Cadvan murmured,

"I love you, Maerad the Unpredictable."

She wriggled down the bed and placed her head on his should, closing her eyes and inhaling his intoxicating scent as if it were her lifeforce.

"I love you too," she whispered, and then, without another word, she fell straight to sleep in his arms.

**Ah, fluff. Where would we be without it?!**


	9. Stopping Death Itself

NB: Drabble

**NB: Drabble! Woo! I don't own the characters…**

**STOPPING DEATH ITSELF**

Death was everywhere. It stalked the corridors, it hung in the air like a foul miasma, swallowing up the young and old alike, bland, uncaring, vicious.

Maerad stood amongst the rabble in the Healing Houses and watched Death do its work. Every minute, someone would let out a cry, or a gasp, and then would fall still, and a healer would rush silently down the rows and draw a white satin sheet over their face, and everyone would continue with their work, ignoring the white bundle now lying so still on the bed.

This was the work of the Dark, Maerad thought furiously. _This _was what they did. They allowed Death to roam free, they let it out of its cage to prey on whoever – on whatever – it wanted. And the powers of Light were helpless against its relentless onslaught.

Except her. She was the One, and she was going to halt both Death and the Dark in their tracks. She _was_.

A hand – warm, light, comforting – fell on her shoulder and reminded her of summertime and sunbeams.

"Are you all right?" asked an equally tender voice.

Maerad turned on her heel and blindly buried her tear-stained face into Cadvan's shoulder.

"I will stop this," she promised, her voice muffled in his shirt. "I will stop this."


	10. Harder

**NB: Draaaaaaaaaabble! Enjoy! I don't own anyone! SMUT WARNING!**

**HARDER**

This, Maerad decided, was heaven. Only heaven could make her feel like this. Only _Cadvan _could make her feel like this.

"Lower…lower!"

"Here?"

"No, lower still – oooh, yes – oh – Cad – "

"Harder?"

"_Harder._" She was aware that her voice was nothing but a quiver of a groan, but was unable to do anything to change that now. She was buried in bliss under him.

"No," he said from above her.

"What? Why _not?_"

"Not until you take back what you said."

"_I will n_ – ooooh, oh, _By the Light, yes!_ Harder, Cadvan!"

"Take back what you said."

"No, I – oh, yes! Oh Light, yes – oh – I – I - Cadvan, you're _torturing_ me!"

"I won't go any harder until you take it back."

"But this is _killing _me!"

"Do it, Maerad…"

"All right, all right!" She took in a rattling gasp, bowed to submission by him. "I take it back. Camphis isn't the best at massaging. You are."

"Thank you." He paused to rub more oil onto his hands. "Now," he continued, bending back over her feet. "I think someone requested I rub harder?"

And Maerad was once more catapulted into heaven.

**Well honestly! What did you THINK he was doing? Hee hee :) I hope you liked! Plz review and tell me how evil I am!**


	11. How do you know?

**NB: Drabble. Real fluffy drabble! Urgh! Enjoy anyway :)**

**HOW DO YOU KNOW?**

"Now I _really _know you love me."

"Why? Because I saved you from a life of slavery and introduced you to the bright world to which you belong?"

"No."

"Oh. Because…I taught and guided you and never willingly left your side for a moment?"

"No."

"Because when we were parted, I did everything a mortal could possibly do in order to get you back alive and well?"

"No."

"Hmm. Because I fought an entire army to get to you in the final battle?"

"No."

"Erm…Because I gave you your first kiss to save your life when the Nameless had all but snatched it from you?"

"No."

"Maerad, I give up!"

"I know you love me, Cadvan…" She leaned closer and whispered seductively into his ear. "Because you said nothing just now when I ate the last fried mushroom."

**The end! Cute, no?**


	12. Because They Had Never Been Normal

**Drabble – to get me out of a nasty writer's block. I own no one copyright predators! Sorry…this is indeed kinda rubbish…**

BECAUSE THEY HAD NEVER BEEN NORMAL...

All they wanted was to live an ordinary life. But their lives had never been, and never would be, normal.

"I can sense five Hulls to the right, six to the left," Cadvan said, shivering with cold, his brow furrowed with concentration as he stared through their hastily erected shield into the dark, befuddling marshes beyond them. Maerad nodded and kept a tight grip on her sword, focusing her mind to join with his.

"They're hesitating," she realised as their minds connected, as naturally as if it were second nature, an ability born with them.

Cadvan nodded.

"Waiting for something. Possibly a wight. They must have realised we were the ones spying on their base. Hold fast, Maerad."

She looked at him, really looked at him, as she rarely had time to these days. He stood tall and stern, his face glittering in the moonlight and the light of their shield. He looked lordly, she realised suddenly, like an ancient king reborn, so strong and so bright. As if all the power of Light was within him, smouldering always inside him, waiting to flood out and infuse the land with its might with one signal from its host…

He was truly magnificent.

She stepped forward so that she was next to him, and took his hand, her fingers twining through his.

"I'm ready," she said.

They waited; a silence louder than anything Maerad had ever heard before echoed outside, prowling around their dome of protection, snarling, preparing itself…to leap…

"Maerad," Cadvan said suddenly. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," said Maerad automatically.

They both blinked, then quickly turned their heads in unison to stare at one another.

"Did you just say…?" Cadvan muttered.

"Did you just ask..?" Maerad asked simultaneously.

They stopped speaking and gawked at each other, faces suddenly unreadable, minds hurling through thought after thought. The raging darkness outside themselves was forgotten.

"Cadvan…" Maerad said finally, in a tight voice. "Did you just ask what I thought you asked?"

Cadvan hesitated, then met her eyes.

"Maerad," he said more slowly. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Maerad heard herself say promptly again, then blinked once more in confusion.

A strange light sparked in Cadvan's eyes.

"Do you mean…?"

"Yes," Maerad said again. And then, quite suddenly, "Yes, Cadvan!"

Their calm, terrified, tension broke and they both burst into sudden joyous laughter, grabbing hold of each others shoulders.

"Do you mean - !"

"Are you - !"

"_By the –_ "

Something hit their shield and made them stumble back; Maerad grasped Cadvan's arm to steady herself, then glared out into the night and reached deep into the Elidhu part of herself.

"I was _about_," she argued loudly. "To kiss my fiancé!"

And then, with one contemptuous gesture, she shattered the souls of every Hull within miles into pieces and turned back around to kiss the extremely surprised Cadvan hard on the mouth with all the passion and joy that now raged within her.

"So," Cadvan said later, when they had picked through the remains on the Hulls and made sure there was no danger left within range. "I'll take that as a yes, shall I?"

Maerad smiled, a little shyly, and they paused to kiss once more.

**Nice? Naughty? Please review either way!**


	13. Everything Dies

**Note: Some cute, solemn, off-the-top-of-my-head Pellinor drabble. Written to 'Rose's Theme' from Doctor Who…a very nice orchestral piece.**

Everything Dies

Maerad awoke groggily to the sound of rain and the feel of sand scratching against her cheek. She opened her eyes and found herself staring along the length of a sandy floor which she recognised as belonging to the cave she and Cadvan had discovered the night before – just before the storm that had been threatening for weeks had finally broken with almost a vicious triumph. The only difference was that Cadvan had been lying in her view when her eyes had closed, asleep almost _before_ his head had touched his makeshift pillow. And now there was nothing but a crumple of blankets.

She raised her head, blinking in the grey daylight of early morning, and saw that he was now standing in the entrance of the cave, his face turned outside to where the storm was raging, silhouetted against the dim light like a shadow without a person.

"What's the time?" Maerad croaked in her morning voice.

The shadow did not reply, and finally Maerad sensed that something was awry. She scrambled to her feet and approached the still Cadvan, drawing level with him and taking in the sight outside.

The storm was still in full blast – the forest of trees in the valley below were rippling as lithely as long grass does in a gentle breeze, moaning mournfully to one another as their ancient trunks were forced to flex. The sky was pewter grey, the clouds twisting and turning amongst each other, a thousand dancers in an endless parade, distorting Maerad's perceptions so that she could no longer tell how far the sky was from the earth. The horizon was still dark, crackling every so often with flashes of lightning. A cool breeze whistled past the cave, making the skin of Maerad's arms rise up in goosebumps.

She stole a quick look at Cadvan, and was shocked to see how sad he looked. Not grim, not determined, not courageous, not gentle…none of the expressions usually displayed on that scarred face. Just sadness - a deep, beautiful sadness, engrained into every wrinkle, every pore, every part of his skin. He emitted it like he had emitted his old light.

"What is it?" she asked quietly, her voice hardly louder than the cries of the suffering trees below.

Cadvan did not reply for a long moment. Then he sighed and said softly, "Oh, Maerad."

Maerad waited for more, studying those dark, faraway eyes, those solemn lips.

"It will all go one day," Cadvan finally continued, his voice still gentle and sad. "All of this, Maerad, all that we see – the valley, the trees, the clouds, the wind…even the horizon. One day it will all go."

Maerad watched him steadily.

"I don't think I understand," she answered, trying to prompt him into more speech.

Cadvan spared her a fleeting glance, a dark, melancholy look.

"Everything ends, Maerad. Everything ends and everything dies. Everything that has been created is always fated to die too. The trees shall fall, the valley shall crumble away. We shall become nothing but ashes and dust in the soil. Everything that mankind has made, everything that he has built, whether for practicality or for love or for both, will fall and fade in time. Perhaps one day Edil-Amarandh will no longer exist. All these things we take for granted…all these things we think will last forever…it won't. It will all pass away as easily as the storm will. Fluttering away like seeds on the wind. Just as we shall."

Maerad considered his words for a long moment, watching the wail of the storm around them.

Then, very slowly, she reached sideways and slipped her fingers into the warmth of his half-curled hand.

"Well then," she said decidedly. "We shall just have to make the most of it while its here."

Her words had the desired effect; Cadvan's face twitched into the smallest of smiles, and faint glimmer of his old light returned to him.

"That sounds," he murmured gently, "Like a perfect idea."

And he squeezed her hand, linking his fingers through hers so that they were joined properly.

They stood at the entrance of the cave in silence for a long time, their hands clasped, watching as the storm finally whirled and danced itself away into nothing.

The light of the new day broke out on the horizon once more.

**R & R if you enjoyed!**


End file.
